History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 102

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862

USA > New York > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 102

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Dr. Guthrie was also the inventor of the percussion compound for firearms, and manufacturer of the " percus- sion pills," which superseded the old flint-locks, and were discharged by means of a small plunger,-they, in their turn, having more recently given place to the present sys- tem of percussion-caps. In his experiments the Doctor nearly lost his life by accidental explosion. He had at one time an old man named Tillotson working for him, and when the old powder-mill blew up, Tillotson was buried in the ruins. The man was an inveterate smoker, and when discovered after the explosion by the Doctor, he was cov- ered with a mass of timbers and stone, badly bruised, but with his short black pipe still between his teeth. The Doe- tor, on seeing him, remarked that he had but just escaped being killed, but the pipe was saved! It is said that at one time, after his compound became known, the Doctor received a consignment of three barrels of caps from par- ties in France, who had manufactured them and sent them

to him to fill, thinking the eap and nipple much better than the pill and plunger. The Doctor, in return for the confi- denee thus placed in him and his invention, sent back the caps with a formula for making the percussion and direc- tions for making machinery with which to fill them. Dr. Guthrie died at Sacket's IFarbor, Oct. 19, 1848. As a practical chemist he liad gained a wide reputation. On one occasion, when he was experimenting with chloroform, he put a few drops of it in a glass of whisky a man was about to drink. On swallowing the liquor the man was imme- diately made insensible, to the terror of the by-standers, who thought the Doctor had killed him. The beverage was called "Guthrie's Sweet Whisky." The Doctor, Iris eye glancing mirtlifully, told the people the man was all right, and his statement was soon verified by his rising to his feet in his right senses again. When asked how he felt, the only reply he vouclisafed was, "Give me some more !" This of course made the Doctor happy, and showed him the result of his labors in a most satisfactory light.

LAWYERS.

Among those who have figured prominently in the pro- fession of the law in Saeket's Harbor, D. M. Burnham was long associated with the interests of the village. He had an office here, and, aside from his practice, entered to a con- siderable extent into the newspaper publishing business. He is a native of the town of Adams, in this county. He finally removed to the western country, and is now a well- known practitioner of the city of Chicago, Illinois.

Hon. John R. Bennett, now a prominent judge residing in Janesville, Rock Co., Wisconsin, is a native of Houns- field township, and studied law in Sacket's Harbor, under Burnham. His parents were extremely poor when they settled in the township, and the Judge's father, Daniel Bennett, long supported them by burning charcoal, then the only fuel used by blacksmiths. The boy John had but few advantages in the way of schooling, yet he possessed remarkable ability, which soon raised him to eminence, and he now occupies a high position of trust.

Sanford A. Hudson, also a well-known lawyer of Janes- ville, Wisconsin, studied here under Burnham. He was previously a blacksmith, and had worked in the village at his trade.

George H. Harlow, the present efficient secretary of the State of Illinois, to which position he was elected in the autumn of 1876, is a native of Sacket's Harbor.

BANKS.

The Sacket's Harbor Bank " was incorporated April 28, 1834, with a capital of $200,000, in shares of $50 cach, and a limitation of existence to Jan. 1, 1865. Thomas Loomis, Jesse Smitli, Daniel Wardwell, Thomas J. Angel, Azariah Walton, Joseph Sheldon, Woodbridge C. George, Henry H. Coffeen, and Noadiah Hubbard were named commissioners for receiving subscriptions for stock, and the corporation had the usual powers, immunities, and restric- tions of such institutions. Its affairs were to be managed by 13 directors, elected annually by ballot, who were to choose one of their number president. The charter of the Sacket's Harbor Bank came before the Legislature for

& T. S. Dispensatory.

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

repeal in April, 1837, upon a complaint that its officers had received and paid out certain checks of a business firmn, con- trary to the provision of the law prohibiting the circulation of bills less than five dollars. The bill for repeal having passed the Assembly April 7, large public meetings were held at Watertown, Brownville, Sacket's Harbor, and else- where, calling upon the senate to prevent its passage. It was apprehended that the sudden withdrawal of so large a sum from the circulation of the county would seriously derange its business, and the bank and its officers were de- fended against the calumnies that had been circulated. These efforts proved unavailing, and the bill for repeal became a law, May 12, 1838, the directors being appointed trustees, until others were appointed to settle its. affairs .* On April 17, 1837, the charter was restored, t and March 25, 1852, an act was passed authorizing a change of its place of business to Buffalo, upon the concurrence of two- thirds of its directors. This measure had been several years contemplated, and repeated applications had been made to the legislature, which had been defeated. The act was at length procured without the knowledge of many citi- zens who had previously opposed it.{"

A State bank at Sacket's Harbor, owned by Edgar B. Camp, began business May 17, 1852, with a capital of $50,000. It continued for some time, and was finally forced to discontinue, causing considerable loss to a number of persons and firms.

A FOUNDRY

was established in 1843 by David McKec and Edward S. Hammond. Since about 1858 it has been carried on by McKee alone. Plows, stoves, repairs, and all ordinary east- ings are manufactured, and in 1857-58 mowing-machines were added. The building is stone, with a portion occu- pied as a machine-shop. Three hands are employed.

CEMETERY.

The village cemetery is located near Madison Barracks, and has lately been enlarged and improved. In examining the head-stones, the oldest one found was that of a person named Hooker, who was born at Windsor, Connecticut, in April, 1775, and died at Sacket's Harbor, May 2, 1810. The stone is overturned and partially covered with turf, so as to render a portion of the inscription illegible. Among the older graves are the following: "Mrs. Maria Jacob Wheaton, wife of Walter V. Wheaton, U.S.A., and daugh- ter of Hon. Stephen Jacob, died at Sacket's Harbor, March 15, 1821, aged 27." An old stone by the side of this was lying on its face, rendering it impossible to read the inscription. " Mrs. Ally Myler, wife of Patrick Myler, died March 28, 1822, aged 45 years." " Betsey, daughter of John and Mary Root, drowned May 25, 1825, aged 19 years." "Sacred to the memory of James Jackson, who departed this ' transatory' life June 23, 1825. He left a widow and one child to deplore his loss." Many neat head-

stones are found, and a better site for a last resting-place for those who have " gone before" could probably not have been chosen.

BOAT-BUILDING, SHIPPING, AND FISHING INTERESTS.

" Previous to the war a flourishing commerce had sprung up on Lake Ontario, and the following vessels were engaged in trade, all of them having more or less business at Sacket's Harbor : Genesee Pucket, Capt. Obed Mayo, of Ogdens- burgh ; Diana, Capt. A. Montgomery ; Fair American, Capt. Augustus Ford ; Collector, Capt. Samuel Dixon ; Ex- periment, Capt. C. Holmes ; Charles and Aun, Capt. Pcase ; Dolphin, Capt. William Vaughan, and a few others whosc names were not obtained. The Fair American is said to have been the first vessel built under the present govern- ment on this lake. She was launched at Oswego for the Northwestern Fur Company. Soon after the war, the schooners Woolsey, Rambler, Farmer's Daughter, Triumph, Commodore Perry, Dolphin, etc., were advertised as run- ning on regular lines as packets from this port. Ship- building, during the war, was carried on under the super- vision of Henry Eckford, who gained, and afterwards maintained, great eminence in this department. Noah Brown, and others, who began their career under him, subsequently became noted as ship-builders. Ever since the war, the business of constructing trading-vessels at this port has been more or less continued, but we have not been able to procure the details satisfactorily."§

It is said that the first trading-vessel that ever entered the river at Chicago, Illinois, was the Ariadne, sailed from Sacket's Harbor by Capt. Pickering. As an experi- ment a cargo of pork and flour was shipped in this vessel,- the former by Festus Clark, a great pork-packer for that day, and facetiously known as " Hog Clark" in consequence, and the latter by Thomas S. Hall. The Chicago of to-day -the greatest pork-packing centre in the world-would smile at the idea of having forty or fifty barrels of pork shipped to her as of old from a place so remote as Sacket's Harbor, or indeed any other. Captain Pickering after- wards committed suicide. The Ariadne was at one time partly owned by Captain Daniel Read.

Henry Eekford, the ship-builder who acquired such fame at Sacket's Harbor and elsewhere, acquired a large fortune by his efforts in this line during the War of 1812, but subsequently lost most of it through unfortunate stock speculations. For several years previous to his death, which occurred at Constantinople, November 12, 1832, he had been chief director of the dock-yards in the Turkish Empire. The Sultan, in speaking of him, gave him a fine compliment by remarking that " America must be Great if it could spare such men as Eckford."

The most prominent and attractive relic of the war of 1812-15 now preserved at the Harbor, is the decaying hull of the linc-of-battle-ship New Orleans, built as a coun- ter-match to the St. Lawrence, a three-deck man-of-war, set afloat. by the British. The latter vessel carried 120 guns, and it was necessary to at once construct an antagonist worthy to measure strength with her. The New Orleans

* Affidavits and statements on the subject occur in Assembly Docu- ments, 1838, numbers 243, 25, 296, 297, 298.

+ Report of committee, with statements.

Assembly Documents, 1838, v., No. 278.

¿ Hough's History of Jefferson County.

¿ Hough.

409

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

had a keel of 187 fcet, breadth of beam 56 feet, and 30 fect depth of hold, with a measurement of 3200 tons. She was picreed for 110 guns, but could have carried 120. The vessel was never launched, owing to the peace measures adopted by the two countries ; and to preserve her the government erected a house over her at considerable ex- pense. This building has been several times repaired, but is now in a dilapidated condition, and fast becoming unsafe, while the timbers and kecl in the old hull are rapidly rot- tening away. The shores or props by which she is upheld are apparently as sound as the day they were set. The gun-carriages to have received her armament are sound and in good condition. This vessel, though she would have been a formidable antagonist at the time she was building, would scarcely afford protection to a ercw against the iron- elad monsters of modern naval warfare. (See illustration.)

The Chippewa, a vessel of the same elass, was being built at Storr's Harbor, farther up the bay, but the news of peace put a stop to the work upon her also, which had not advaneed as far as on the New Orleans. A house was built over her and preserved for a number of years, but the vessel was finally taken down for the iron it eon- tained, and the house removed.

The Ontario,* the first steamner on Lake Erie, was begun in the summer of 1816, and was finished and made her first trip early in 1817. A notice of her, with rates of passage, etc., has been elsewhere given. The Ontario continued to run, seldom exeecding five miles an hour, until 1832, when she was broken up at Oswego. A draw- ing of this vessel, made by Captain James Van Cleve, from sketches he made while clerk on board of her in 1826, is in the possession of Mr. De Wolf, present Deputy Collector of Customs at Sacket's Harbor. The captain was clerk on this boat for the four years from 1826 to 1829 inelusive. No vessels have been built here for several years, and there are at present no facilities for the business. The fishing business at the Harbor and in the vicinity has for many years been extensive, and now constitutes one of the principal commercial interests of the place. Messrs. Robbins and Clark, fish-dealers, have shipped to the extent of six or seven tons of these finny inhabitants of the " vasty deep" in a day, and are constantly busy.

BUSINESS INTERESTS.

Grain is handled to a considerable extent, and the amount transported by the railway during the season of 1877 will reach probably one hundred thousand bushels. A large warchouse, owned by the railway company, stands on the dock, and improved facilities for unloading grain from ves- sels have lately been added. Messrs. B. Eveleigh and Charles Hall are quite extensive dealers in coal, the Penn- sylvania anthracite being the principal article used. It is shipped to the village by way of Oswego, Sodus Bay, etc., and is said to be furnished cheaper here than it can be at Watertown. The timber for a considerable distance around the village has almost entirely disappeared, and wood is little, if any, cheaper than eoal.

Among the business buildings of the village the finest

is the "Robbins Block," built by R. S. Robbins, about 1855, at a cost of six thousand dollars. It is a substantial brick structure, having on the upper floor a public hall, known as " Ontario Hall," which will seat about two hundred persons. Many of the stores are built of brick, and the town generally is substantial and calculated to weather the blasts of many years. Many of the earlier buildings were eon- strueted of native limestone, and stand firmly to-day in all their quaintness of architecture as relics of bygone days. Among the fine dwellings of the village are those of Hon. Theodore Canfield, Walter B. Camp, George II. Camp, Leonard Denison, and others.

SACKET'S HARBOR IN THE WAR OF 1812-15.

" On the declaration of war the United States possessed almost no means of defense on this frontier. The brig Oneida, under Lieutenant Woolsey, with an armament of 16 guns (a heavy 36-pound cannon), and a few smaller ones, some of which belonged to the State militia, consti- tuted the sum of our means of defense. The British, it was well known, had been preparing for the event one or two years at Kingston, and, when the news of war arrived, had the means afloat at that place not only of commanding the lake, but of landing whatever force they might possess at such points as they might select, without a reasonable prospect of resistance. Col. Christopher P. Bellinger, with a body of drafted militia, had been stationed at this place, and an artillery company, under Capt. Elisha Camp, had been formed and had offered their services for a short time, which had been accepted by General Brown. As ordnance and military stores were of first importance for the defense of the plaec, a meeting was called to press upon the gov- ernor the importanec of an immediate attention to thesc wants, of which the following is a copy of the proceedings :

"'SACKET'S HARBOR, July 11, 1812.

"' ILIS EXCELLENCY GOV. TOMPKINS :

"' Respected Sir,-The undersigned, a committee appointed on the part of the officers stationed at Sacket's Harbor and the villagers for the purpose of adopting measures of defense for this place, beg leave to address you on this subject. We would earnestly solicit your at- tention to the exposed situation of this place, its liability to attack, and to the most expeditions means of resisting with effect any offen- sive operations. This place, it will be known, is the station or port from whenee the brig Oneida derives all her supplies, and almost the only harbor she can with safety resort to from the bad weather of the lake. It is a village respectable for size aud population, and is the casiest of access to any hostile naval force upon the lake. The Eng- lish have a disposable effective naval force of at least sixty-eight guns, while all our defense consists of 18 guns on board the Oneida and 2 niue-pounders on shore,-less than one-third of what may be made to bear upon us. Under these circumstances, according to the established usages of war, it would be bordering upon insanity for us not to expect that an attack will be made upon ns, the troops stationed here driven from their encampment, a landing effected under the cover of naval artillery, and the village demolished, with a large amount of property and loss of life. And in fact we have it credibly reported that it is the intention of our enemies to capture Captain Woolsey, and destroy the navigation on our side of the lake. Having two schooner prizes in port, besides other eraft, we of course must daily expect a visit. Under this point of view we have for some time considered the subject, and have been awaiting with anx- ious expectation the arrival of cannon and ammunition. It is far from the wish of the citizens of this place to retire from it with their families and effects, and thereby scatter alarm and dismay through- ont the country at large; but we assure you, honored sir, that every

# See illustration on page 125.

410

IHISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

consideration of prudence and self-preservation would dictate the measure, did not reinforcements of artillery soon arrive. We have a very well disciplined company of artillery, of citizens belonging to this place, who can be rallied at a very short notice, and would in conjunction with the soldiers be competent to the management of a number of heavy pieces of ordnance besides the two 9-pounders already here. We should therefore respectfully solicit that the two 9-pounders and two sixes and other ordnance at the Rome Arsenal might with suitable fixed and other ammunition be forwarded with all possible expedition, and if 10 or 12 nincs, twelves, or eighteen pounders could be forwarded we should consider the troops, the village, and the brig Oneida, when here, as secure from attack, or if attacked would be able to give a good account of our adversaries. This place would then be a safe retreat to the Oneida, should she meet with a reverse of fortune, as well as a safe place of refuge for the navigation of the lakes, no harbor being easily of access or natu- rally more secure. At present there is no place to which the Oneida can resort with safety in case of an attack with a superior force.

"'Oswego, Sodus, and Genesee river she cannot enter with her guns aboard, and Niagara is too much exposed. We would further take the liberty of suggesting the propriety of some engineer being ordered on, with instructions to ercet suitable temporary batteries, to be thrown up by the troops, for such pieces of ordnance as may be stationed here. Any communication that your honor may think proper to make through Captain L. Buss, the bearer, to the keeper of the arsenal at Rome or otherwise, we have no doubt will be ex- ccuted with fidelity and dispatch.'

" The committee who drafted the above were Colonel Bellinger, Major Dill, Captain E. Camp, F. White, and W. Warring.

" During the war Saeket's Harbor became the theatre of military and naval operations on an extensive scale. It was twiee attacked by the British without success, and it was the station from which were fitted out the expeditions against Toronto, Fort George, etc., and the unfortunate enterprise under General Wilkinson in the fall of 1813. From its being the centre of operations so extensive, and the rendezvous of great numbers of sailors and soldiers, many incidents occurred that possess much interest, and scenes of vice and misery inseparable from eamps became familiar to the citizens.

" At this station about a dozen military executions were performed during the war, for repeated desertion, with the view of striking terror into the minds of the disaffected, but with the effect of increasing the evil. These cases were, many of them, young men from New England, of respect- able families, who, in the heat of political excitement, had enlisted in the army, and who found themselves the victims of the wanton barbarity of officers, exposed to the severest hardships of the camp, and often ill clad and worse fed, sometimes without shelter, and always without sympathy. Several of these eases excited much sympathy, among which was that of a boy of sixteen years of age, who had been bribed with a gold watch to open a prison door at Green- bush, and who was here arrested and convicted. Many officers and eitizens made strenuous efforts to obtain re- prieve, which were enforced by the appeals of a mother, but without effect ; the agonized parent followed her child to the gallows, and the sympathizing tears of the spectators bespoke the feeling which this rigid exercise of the iron rule of war had occasioned.

. " On one occasion the convict, on approaching the scaffold, scrutinized its construction with the eye of a ear- penter, leaped upon the platform, pushed off the hangman, and jumped off himself; but a reprieve arrived the instant

after, and he was restored. The place of cxecution was generally in the rear of the village, where the graves were dug, and the convicts were marched to the spot, surrounded by a guard, and, after kneeling by their coffins, were dis- patched by the shots of several muskets, a part of which only were loaded with ball. There were commonly eight men detailed for this purpose. The brutality of officers was in some instances excessive, the most extreme corporeal punishment being inflicted for the slightest eauses, or from mere caprice; and such was sometimes the bitterness of men towards officers that in one case, it is said, a captain durst not lead his company in an action for fear of being shot by his own men.

"Nor were there wanting ineidents of a ludicrous kind, which enlivened the monotony of the camp, and showed the lights as well as the shades of the soldier's life. Abuses will sometimes work their own reform, as was illus- trated in an amusing instance at this station during the war. A mess of militia soldiers had received for their rations a hog's head, an article of diet not altogether avail- able nor susceptible of fair and equal division among them. They accordingly, upon representation of the facts, pro- cured at other messes in the eantonment a contribution in kind, to supply their wants for the coming week ; and after the morning review, having plaeed upon a bier, borne on the shoulders of four men, their ration of pork, they marclied through the village, with muffled drum and notes of the death march, to the cemetery, where it was solemnly buried with military honors. On the next occasion they received from the commissary store a supply of edible meat, and the occasion for a similar parade did not afterwards occur.

"Soon after the battle of May, 1813, a breastwork of logs and earth was built around the village, one end touch- ing the bay, about half-way between the harbor and Horse island, and the other at the site of Madison barracks. No opportunity was afforded subsequently for the use of these defenses. The village contained at the elose of the war several block-houses and cantonments, a considerable quan- tity of military stores, and a large fleet of vessels that were laid up at this place; but these have gradually disappeared until little now remains,-the hull of a ship of 120 guns and the remains of one breastwork."*

Until within a few years an old bloek-house was standing which occupied a position inside of a work known as Fort Virginia. It stood on land owned by. R. S. Robbins, and was long used as a stable, and finally removed. The hull of the war-vessel Jefferson, dismantled soon after the peace, lies on the waters of the harbor, on the south side of the ship-house.

The part taken by citizens of Sacket's Harbor in the Patriot War of 1837-40 will be elsewhere described.

SACKET'S HARBOR NAVAL STATION.

Immediately after the War of 1812-15 this station was established permanently, and Lieutenant Thomas Brownell, a sailor under Commodore Perry, appointed to its command. This had been an important position during the war, and inasmuch as it afforded the safest and best harbor on the

# Hough.

SUNKEN HULK "JEFFERSON

ESPLANADE. VIEW OF SHIP HOUSE, NAVY POINT, SACKETS HARBOR, N. Y. MADISON BARRACKS IN THE DISTANCE AT THE RIGHT .

INTERIOR of HULL of LINE-of-BATTLE SHIP "NEW ORLEANS", LOOKING FROM PLATFORM AT STERN.

LINE-OF - BATTLE SHIP" NEW ORLEANS . KEEL 187 FT, BEAM 56 FT, DEPTH OF HOLD 30F!, ">- MEASUREMENT 3200 TONS, 120 GUNS . .

GENER

evab

ACCU

FARM VIEW OF GEO. FRASIER, H

RESIDENCE.

WIELD, JEFFERSON COUNTY, N. Y.

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History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 102

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 862

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862